Five Times Ethan helped Lily and One Time She helped Him
by Lizzybethx
Summary: We all know Lily's bedside manner can be a bit... difficult at times so who better to help her than the all-round cheerful, successful doctor, Ethan Hardy.
1. Insensitivity

"Ethan?" A voice called across the central island of the surprisingly quiet ED.

"Mm-hmmm?" Ethan replied, attention focused on the notes he was completing for a patient, with multiple complex conditions and several injuries.

"Are you busy at the moment?" Connie asked, with such a strange tone, Ethan looked up at her immediately.

"Well... Yes, Mrs Beauchamp." Ethan answered tentatively; afraid the clinical lead would start shouting at him about treatment times again.

"Can it wait?" Connie asked, her voice outwardly polite, but with a steely undertone, indicating that there was a correct answer.

Ethan opened his mouth and closed it again before finally deciding that actually, yes, the notes could definitely wait.

"Great," Connie smiled, a tight-lipped serious smile, barely raising the corners of her mouth. "I need you to talk to Dr Chao."

Ethan span around instantly, his face surprised and a sudden urgency to his manner. "Lily! Why do I need to talk to Lily?"

"Dr Chao," Connie began cautiously, fully aware (like the majority of the ED staff) of the registrar's romantic feelings for the F2. Stopping to think, she began again. "Dr Chao," she repeated herself more confidently, but with clinical detachment, "Has been -frankly- rude to a patient in her care, through her insensitive questions and general attitude."

Ethan suddenly felt worry for the young women at whom Connie's growing rage was apparently aimed. "Has Li -Dr Chao deliberately insulted the patient or has she simply offended them with ill-considered remarks?" he asked carefully, pausing to select his words, all the while somehow retaining an outward appearance of calm, despite his heart at least feeling as though it was beginning to beat faster.

"Thankfully it is the later, or Dr Chao would be in even more trouble than she currently finds herself in. She simply cannot empathise with anyone, even other members of staff." Connie replied scathingly, as if daring the young man to contradict her.

"And I am required to talk to her, because?" Ethan asked, confusion and anxiety now showing plainly on his face.

"Because Dr Hardy, Dr Chao respects your opinions more than most." The phrase 'including mine' silently implied, with a hint of bitterness and anger. "I also cannot criticise your empathy or people skills, however your time management..."

"Leaves a great deal to be desired." Ethan finished abruptly. "I'll go and talk to her now, before she starts treating her next patient." He walked away quickly, leaving Connie shaking her head, over the volatility and "sheer stupidity and risk" associated with love -especially but not limited to, that of the unrequited lovers.

* * *

><p>Ethan groaned as he saw Lily deep in conversation with Jemma (a chatty, incredibly smart young doctor) or rather, Lily being as talkative as an "ice-cold snow princess"-Caleb's imaginative description- could be: not particularly. Ethan stopped walking and stood watching the two for a while. Jemma was admittedly attractive, with life and happiness seemingly glowing in her smile and Lily was in no particular aspect that he could name "more" than her friend. However in Ethan's eyes, Lily was beyond pretty; she was almost perfect -according to his heart at least. Despite not wanting to interrupt their conversation, a glance at a glaring Mrs Beauchamp reminded Ethan of the severity of the situation.<p>

"Lily, I mean, Dr Chao, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked quietly, not wanting to make a scene. Lily looked at him, surprised, but she seemed to understand the importance attached to the question. Making excuses to Jemma, Lily followed Ethan to the staff room, where he stood, awkwardly, by the sink.

Ethan fought to get some semblance of order in his head before opening his mouth. Taking a deep breath he started talking.

"Dr Chao," he began before the look of confusion and (dare he say it) hurt, sent his heart tumbling. "Lily. Mrs Beauchamp has asked me to talk to you about," he frantically searched for an inoffensive way to explain, "bedside manner, especially 'empathising' with patients."

"Why?" Lily queried instantly, "I haven't done anything!" She continued, fear creeping in to her voice.

"That," Ethan thought silently to himself, "seems to be the problem."

Speaking aloud, he managed to be less cynical and far kinder. "It's not that you've done something wrong, per se, more that, you could possibly do more to ... relate to patients ... to make them feel that you care."

"But I help them? I would personally rather have treatment than smiles and polite conversation. Isn't doing my job more important than some grand show of solidarity? "

"Well, sort of. They are, in a way, the same thing. It just makes the patients feel more inclined to tell you information and they feel safer, more comfortable, if you're kinder."

"Right, okay. I'll try and take your comments on board, Dr Hardy."

Ethan suddenly understood the look of hurt that had appeared on Lily's face when he had addressed her as Dr Chao, that look probably now mirrored on his own countenance. It was the use of surnames; it put distance between them both, reduced them to merely, polite co-workers -nothing more.

He caught himself; they were nothing more than that.

Shaking his head, he removed his glasses and cleaned them as Lily returned to her conversation with Jemma. A few cursory glances were sent in his direction, leading to his decision to leave that area, for a while.

* * *

><p>Seeing Mrs Beauchamp striding purposefully toward Resus, Ethan hurried to catch up with her. As they walked through the swing doors, Connie turned her head to fire several rapid questions at the younger doctor.<p>

"Did you talk to her? What did you say? How did she take it? Is she going to improve?"

Ethan looked slightly to the side of her face as he answered.

"I talked to Dr Chao, but I don't think I explained myself particularly well and I think she's more offended, than inspired to take the initiative to work on her people skills. I'm sorry Mrs Beauchamp. It might be better for to you talk to her yourself."

Connie gave her trademark, disapproving scowl. Ethan shrank away, and disappeared into the rapidly moving crowd of people flowing through the ED.

Connie sighed. She really did not want to go have this conversation with Lily; she was just too tired.

Maybe... No, not him. Or her. Or her. She tried to think of someone she could delegate to. Maybe Robyn would like to talk to Lily? It couldn't hurt to try.

* * *

><p>Lily was sitting in the staff room on a short break, waiting for a call back to cubicles. She started thinking about Ethan, more specifically his attempt to help with her "people skills". Lily cringed remembering her defensive response; Ethan had only been trying to help after all. Thinking clearly, no longer distracted by Ethan (or specifically Jemma's comment about him), Lily decided he was right, she did need to work on her people skills. And she knew just the nominally smiling nurse to ask.<p> 


	2. Indecision

Lily read over the patient's notes for the third time. It was an apparently simple case; the patient had been complaining of a bad cough, a slight difficulty in breathing and an almost-constant feeling of breathlessness for a few weeks, and had today collapsed, without breathing. The patient clearly had a respiratory disease with the possibility of lung cancer. However she was sure she was missing something, it just felt like it all didn't quite add up. She knew it was there, somewhere in the back of her mind. Alongside the fear that if she ignored it, the patient would be in for further complications and at greater risk of death. Lily glared at the notes, as if that would lead to the key phrases jumping out at her.

Connie suddenly rounded the corner, clearly on the warpath.

"Not finished with that patient yet Dr Chao?" Mrs Beauchamp asked, with clear disapproval

"No, sorry Mrs Beauchamp. I'll send him up to wards now." Lily replied quickly, even though it was not entirely true.

"Very well." Mrs Beauchamp said, as she continued on her way, to find that particular person who would today receive the long, angry lecture.

Lily sighed, she really wanted to go over these notes again to look for that one irritatingly hidden thing, but she knew what she had to do. Calling Max over, she asked for a trolley up to wards. She checked over the notes, one last time before handing them to the nurse accompanying the patient on their way to the Lungs and Respiratory Diseases department.

Lily stood, somewhat awkwardly by the central workstation. The ED was quiet, not surprisingly so, but relatively empty. She could have spent longer with that patient, actually worked out which disease he had contracted, send him up to Wards with a better diagnosis. She sighed. How was she supposed to improve and stand any chance of a better job on the wards, with more complicated cases, if all she could do was decide "where it hurt" and send the patients away?

Lily's eye was caught by a sudden movement in cubicles and decided to go over and see what was going on. The curtain was open so she stepped around it quickly.

"Oh hi Ethan."

"Hi Lily. Have you got a minute?"

"Of course. The ED is almost empty."

Ethan smiled at her, before explaining what he was asking her to do. Lily nodded. Ethan thanked her profusely before leaving the cubicle. Lily closed the curtain, ensuring it was properly shut. Lily turned to the young woman lying on the bed, ensuring she understood what was going on, before helping her undress and replace her bloodied, ripped, dirty clothes with clean, if oversized, long-lost property. Drawing back the curtain, Lily called Ethan back. Thanking her again, Ethan returned to treating the patient. Lily left quickly but had barely got to the staff room before Ethan had sent the woman up to Wards. Lily turned and walked back to the cubicle. She was probably mistaken. Seeing Ethan completing ED notes, she asked him in surprise.

"That was your patient, wasn't it? I thought she was a complex case. Weren't you trying to work something out?"

"Well yes, but I've done what I needed to do. I would have really liked to have more time to define exactly what it was. But the ward doctors would have just rechecked my diagnosis and I may well have been wrong. They have the better, specialist equipment and I'm just an ED doctor; they probably would have ignored it anyway."

Lily thought carefully, she has never considered it like that before. But Ethan had not yet finished talking.

"And I don't know if you've noticed, but Mrs Beauchamp is a bit of a dragon when she wants to be. And she's decided that I really need to limit treatment times." Ethan joked. Lily laughed at the joke, technically at the expense of the slightly tyrannical Clinical Lead. But when the laughter stopped, the serious thought-provoking dilemma remained. Was it simply a waste of time to try and develop more complex diagnosis? Should she confirm its severity and send patients to specialist wards and doctors?

Ethan must have seen her look of confusion and hurt, as he started to talk again. "That isn't to say, don't try to diagnose more complex conditions, just don't spend too much time working on that when the patient would be better off on a specific ward. I mean obviously on night shifts, or when the wards are closed, try and diagnose but if there's a queue a mile long, use your time effectively."

Lily smiled (Ethan tended to have that impact on her) but the whole discussion made more sense, if you think of it like that. It's not a choice between in depth diagnosing or not, it's doing what is best, not just for that patient (who may be better cared for on a ward anyway) but for the other patients, who are still waiting for a doctor. They are just as important as the more interesting cases. Lily smiled at Ethan, locking away another useful lesson in treating patients. Ethan always had time to help her, no matter how small or unimportant the matter was. They grinned at each other, lost for a while.

"Dr Chao! Dr Hardy! Don't you have work to do?"

"Yes Mrs Beauchamp." They laughed together, before turning and returning to work.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry its short. And late. And possible doesn't make any sense.<br>Im about three weeks behind with watching so yeah.  
>But here's the new chapter which at least one person's been waiting for (thank you Guest)<strong>

**So hugs, Elizabeth  
>P.S. i might publish the next chapter tomorrow if i have time<strong>


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